Posted on Monday, August 31st, 2026 at 6:19 pm
Our client faced a charge of rape involving a child under the age of 13 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. A conviction would have sent him to prison for life.
The State dismissed every rape charge. A single misdemeanor remained, and it carried no additional jail time and no probation.
Here is how the defense got there.
What Our Client Was Up Against
- The charge: rape of a child under the age of 13
- The court: Hamilton County Common Pleas
- The exposure: life in prison
A life sentence means exactly what it says. For our client, a guilty verdict would have decided the rest of his life in a single afternoon.
Charges this serious also put enormous pressure on a defendant. Some people plead guilty just to make the case stop moving. We started somewhere else, with the evidence the State planned to use.
We Fought the Case Before Trial Ever Started
Most people picture criminal defense as a dramatic closing argument. In reality, many cases turn on an earlier question: what will the judge allow the jury to hear?
Defense lawyers raise that question in writing, through pretrial motions. Depending on the facts, a motion can ask the court to keep certain evidence out, block certain testimony, or limit how the State presents its case. Win enough of them, and the case the prosecutor planned to try is no longer the case that reaches a jury.
In our client’s case, we won multiple pretrial motions. The court restricted the evidence the State could use.
After those rulings, the State dismissed all of the rape charges.
The Result
Our client’s case ended with:
- Every rape charge dismissed
- One misdemeanor remaining
- No additional jail time
- No probation
A man who faced a life sentence avoided a rape conviction entirely.
Every case stands on its own facts, and no lawyer can promise a particular outcome. What we can promise is that we test every piece of evidence the State plans to use, long before a jury ever sees it.
About Moermond & Mulligan, LLC
The firm brings both sides of the courtroom to the table. Founding partner L. Patrick Mulligan has tried hundreds of cases, many of them in front of juries with a client’s freedom on the line. Brad Moermond spent years as a prosecutor, so he knows how the State builds a case and where it tends to come apart.
Moermond & Mulligan, LLC defends clients from offices in Cincinnati and Dayton.
Talk to a Criminal Defense Lawyer Today
If the State has charged you or someone in your family with a serious felony, the time to act is now. Evidence disappears. Deadlines for pretrial motions pass. Anything you say to investigators goes straight into the prosecutor’s file.
Call Moermond & Mulligan, LLC at (513) 421-9790 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation. Tell us what happened, and we will tell you where you stand.